Massacre of 47 civilians should be investigated, UN urges the DRC

The United Nations has urged the Democratic Republic of Congo government to promptly investigate the killing of 47 civilians including two children in Beni, North Kivu in Eastern DRC.

The incident that occured on Saturday is suspected to have been perpetrated by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) also recorded four people wounded and the burning on 10 houses.

“This is the most serious violence to affect the area since late 2014 when UN documented at least 237 civilian deaths in a three-month period between October 1 and December 31,” the office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations Human Rights said in a statement on Tuesday.

They encouraged the DRC government to put in more effort to protect civilians and investigate the humanitarian law violations.

“Ensure the perpetrators of human rights abuses and violations on all sides are brought to justice,” the statement added.

The DRC government instituted a three-day national mourning from Monday “to express solidarity with the families of the victims”, government spokesman, Lambert Mende Omalanga said in a statement on Sunday.

Hundreds of residents in Beni had demonstrated on Sunday against the government’s passiveness towards attacks that have claimed over 600 lives since 2014.

The killings came three days after DR Congo’s President Joseph Kabila visited the region, promising to do everything in his power to bring peace and security.

The suspected rebel group, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), is a Ugandan Islamist militia that has operated in eastern Congo since the 1990s and accused of several human rights abuses.